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Sarah Carey: Racegoers get a hot tip on Harkins next career move

No race meeting can rival the Galway Races for gossip. With, as one letter writer surmised last week, more politicians under a single tented roof at the five-day event than in the Dail on any other day of the year, it’s hardly surprising it annually generates more than its fair share of political titbits. And as the backroom boys and girls head home, so too does the national media. But they would do well not to switch off. Those keen to keep up with political shenanigans could do worse than keep an eye on the regional racing calender.

The sponsor’s tent at Kilbeggan may not have the same cache as the Fianna Fail tent at Ballybrit, but the popular midlands event was not without interest to political anoraks this year.

For example, in an analysis of the Sligo-North Leitrim constituency last week, Michael O’Regan of The Irish Times speculated that